🎨🕊#ArtIsAWeapon Peaceful journeys to the brilliant, groundbreaking, extraordinary artist #SamGilliam. Grateful for all the beauty he created Image: 📸 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, © Anthony Barboza 💕 Reposted from @nmaahc Our museum mourns the passing of groundbreaking artist Sam Gilliam. Gilliam was an influential painter that never stopped exploring new avenues of artistic expression. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Gilliam was an innovative color field painter who advanced the inventions associated with the Washington Color School —a movement initiated in Washington, D.C. in the 1950s that emphasized large fields of color in visual artwork as a response to the Abstract Expressionist works. Like the artists who first experimented with staining techniques in the early 1950s, Gilliam asserted minimal control over his work, allowing the paints to soak through the pliant canvas and form diffuse stains. With this method, Gilliam created these unexpected abstractions to offer complex visual experiences. Gilliam's work is currently on display in our museum's "Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968" exhibition, which captures the significant aspects of that struggle and illustrates how African Americans not only survived the challenges set before them but crafted an important role for themselves in the nation. By upholding a personal commitment to creating innovative and colorful abstract works, Gilliam didn't need to meet others’ expectations or desires. He has been and will continue to be an inspiration to all artists with an idea and the determination to think outside the box to create masterpieces. #APeoplesJourney #ANationsStory #BlackArtists #AbstractArt #BlackGirlArtGeeks https://www.instagram.com/p/CfWuECrgDSq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
